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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-28-2001 Steering Committee MinutesI' \! DRAFT MINUTES OF STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, February 28, 2001 A meeting of the Steering Committee of the Orange County Sanitation District was held on Wednesday, February 28 , 2001 at 5 p.m., in the District's Administrative Office. (1) The roll was called and a quorum declared present, as follows: STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Directors Present: Norm Eckenrode, Chair Peter Green, Vice Chair Pat McGuigan, Chairman , OMTS Committee Steve Anderson , PDC Committee Shirley McCracken, Chairman, FAHR Committee Jim Silva, County Supervisor Gerald Sigler, Director, Guest Directors Absent: (2) APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR PRO TEM No appointment was necessary. (3) PUBLIC COMMENTS OTHERS PRESENT: Thomas L. Woodruff, General Counsel Don Hughes Tom Dawes Ryal Wheeler Director Peer Swan STAFF PRESENT: Blake Anderson, General Manager Bob Ghirelli, Director of Technical Services David Ludwin, Director of Engineering Greg Mathews, Assistant to the General Manager Lisa Lawson, Communications Manager Jean Tappan, Committee Secretary Jim Herberg, Engineering Supervisor >-H .. EO IN THE OFF ICE CiF !'HE SE CR ETA, Y ORANGE CO UN'fi' ~''· \!iTATION DISTRICT t1AR 2 8 200 1 C'/ f ,K __ _ There were no comments by any member of the public. (4) RECEIVE, FILE AND APPROVE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the January 24, 2001 Steering Committee meeting were approved as drafted. ' Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 2 February 28, 2001 (5) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE CHAIR Committee Chair Norm Eckenrode announced the CASA Spring conference at the Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite May 3-5. Director Gerald Sigler was the Chair's guest at the meeting . Chair Eckenrode mentioned that he had invited Mrs. Joan Irvine Smith, who has expressed an interest in the GWRS project, to attend the March 28 Joint Boards meeting . At a prior meeting the idea of forming a consortium to consider ways for improving the San Gabriel River water quality and in turn the water quality at Seal Beach was presented. After checking around, it turns out that there a group has been formed to discuss these issues. Chair Eckenrode talked with Don Mcintyre about including a Sanitation District representative. Staff will maintain contact with Mr. Mcintyre and county staff on these issues. (6) REPORT OF THE GENERAL MANAGER General Manager Blake Anderson reported on the following issues: A. SARI Line Relocation Project Update Yorba Linda residents were briefed on the project and the need for easements for the first time last week. This has become more controversial than anticipated. Lisa Lawson addressed some of the concerns expressed by the homeowners at the February 21 meeting. A follow-up letter was sent to the attendees the day after the meeting providing additional information and addressing their concerns. Because of the resistance, Dave Ludwin recommended that the agenda item on the easement appraisal procedure for acquisition of easements for SARI line relocation be pulled from the agenda to allow for additional consultation with the PDC Committee and the homeowners. General Counsel Tom Woodruff indicated that the condensed appraisal procedure that is proposed is allowed by law. Full appraisals would be very time consuming and expenses for underground easements that are estimated in value at about $1000 each. There are existing utility easements through the properties and the District's easement would be within the city's easement. Director Steve Anderson suggested placing survey staking along the alignment to assist the homeowners in identifying the exact location. B. GWRS Update Tom Dawes updated the Directors on the status of the project. There is a Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) meeting on March 1 to discuss the results of the financial study. The Groundwater Producers have asked for clarification on several issues. The JCC will be recommending that the day-to-day management of the project be done by the JCC with delegation of powers to the Orange County Water District's (OCWD) Board. Two of the three directors from each Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 3 February 28, 2001 agency would have to agree and the money for the item would have to be in the budget before it could be submitted to the OCWD's Board. Also, advance notification would be provided to the Sanitation District Board prior to action taking place. Mr. Dawes reported that project implementation involves decisions on how to design, build and start the project. The consulting contract with COM will be continued for final design. Should the Boards decide to approve the project on March 28·, there are approximately another 12 smaller contracts that will be required to complete design. A separate third -party contract will be required for construction management. The fifth and final workshop will be held on Saturday, March 3 before the go/no- go decision on March 28. An overview of the project will be presented as well as updates on the financial study, governance and project implementation. Director Peer Swan stated that there has only been two days to review the information submitted to the Groundwater Producers in response to their questions. He expressed concern about the process for approving change orders in amounts over existing delegations of authority. He stated that the COM contract for final design was a non-competitive award that went against the originally approved process of having the design competitively bid. Mr. Anderson responded that the JCC has asked staff to provide a number of alternatives for setting limits on change orders and that the Sanitation District's own delegation of authority procedure will be one alternative proposed. Mr. Dawes explained the actions over the last six to eight months during preliminary design . He also stated that there were no restrictions to not allow an extension of the COM contract for final design. Mr. Anderson said that the JCC discussed the issues extensively and agreed with this action. Director Pat McGuigan questioned the amount of time the JCC would be the governing entity. Mr. Dawes said that the JCC would continue overseeing the project with the existing set of rules in the interim until the final rules are approved by both Boards, and would continue governing under the final rules. A full board of directors is required for approvals and the JCC will be recommending that this authority be delegated to OCWD as they meet twice a month. Additional recommendations will be presented to the JCC and the Boards on how change orders would be handled before finalizing the final rules . C. Huntington Beach Activities Update Bob Ghirelli updated the committee on the County's Watershed Management Program. A core workgroup has been formed to work with the action plan that follows up on the Phase 1 reports. Twenty different areas will be reviewed. The County is trying to obtain Proposition 13 funding. Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 4 February 28, 2001 OCSD's Summer Monitoring Program is being designed by a technical advisory committee in a series of meetings. Agreement has been reached on the study design and the details are being finalized. Cost for the monitoring program and the study will be about $1 million. Staff is also looking at applying for Proposition 13 funding for these efforts. The Directors questioned whether the USC Sea Grant report will duplicate our efforts. Staff has only just become aware of this project and will be contacting USC for more information. AES, the operators of the power plant across from Huntington Beach, have applied for a fast-track permit to double their capacity. In the hearings the issue of beach contamination was raised. AES has agreed to work with the District during the monitoring period to help duplicate conditions, as well as our assisting with ocean testing when they operate at full capacity. AES is preparing a white paper on their testing and will be doing modeling on their outfall area. The county will be testing the Talbert Marsh and the Santa Ana River parallel with our studies. A technical advisory team has been formed and separate meetings are being held to discuss nine topics of concern. The media has shown no interest in this process. Jim Herberg reported that a study has been included in next year's budget to consider pathogen reduction. D. Seattle Earthquake Blake Anderson reported that staff contacted Seattle Metro to see how their facilities fared during today's 6.8 magnitude earthquake. Their Emergency Response Center, which is similar to the District's, was activated and it went surprisingly smooth. No major damage was reported. E. Storm Flows Mr. Anderson reported that during the recent rains, the peak was about 1 00 mgd greater than usual. There were no problems. F. Dairy Dewatering Ponds Today, the first of several dairies ponds was connected to the SARI to allow dewatering the ponds before rain events. This is a 'first' in the country and will help to control dairy pondwater from entering the stormwater systems. (7) REPORT OF GENERAL COUNSEL General Counsel Tom Woodruff reported that the dry weather discharge agreement between The Irvine Company, IRWD and OCSD for the Crystal Cove area has been finalized and a letter sent to the Coastal Commission. Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 5 February 28, 2001 Mr. Woodruff also discussed a memo in the Directors' folders regarding legal representation on a claim for reimbursement for expenses involved in moving a sewer in Ball Road at the request of the City of Anaheim to accommodate their storm drain. There is a meeting scheduled Thursday, March 1, to discuss the Crow-Winthrop claim. (8) DISCUSSION ITEMS {Items A-F) A. Local Sewer Service Agreement between IRWD and OCSD for Irvine Business Complex Area and Tustin Marine Corps Redevelopment Area. Jim Herberg explained the proposed terms of the agreement to the Directors. These areas are currently within Revenue Area 7 and the agreement will move them to Revenue Area 14, thereby allowing IRWD to take over the local sewer service. The Directors authorized negotiations. B. Streamlining Concepts: Can we reduce the paper work between staff and board committees. Greg Mathews and Blake Anderson discussed several examples of ways to reduce time and paperwork for both the staff and the Directors. It was decided that the financial report could be presented quarterly. Additional changes will be presented to the committee for review at a later meeting. C. Consider 4 p.m. start time for March 28 Steering Committee. Because of the early start for the March 28 Joint Boards meeting with OCWD, the Steering Committee will meet at 4 p.m . that day. D. Resolve July Committee meeting date calendars. The July 4 holiday impacts the OMTS and PDC Committees meeting dates and the Directors agreed not to meet in July. There will be meetings in August, which is usually dark. A determination to hold the FAHR Committee meeting in July was not finalized. E. Summer Program for Disadvantaged Youth. Blake Anderson introduced an idea that was presented by one of our employees on employing disadvantaged youths in our summer program. He outlined some of the questions that need to be answered as well as some of the conditions for employment, but asked the Directors for direction. Supervisor Silva said he would hope that OCSD could be used as a model for developing a program that could be used throughout County government. The Directors gave their support, and felt that it would be a very worthwhile, and much-needed, program. F. Review Agenda Items scheduled to be presented to Committees in March. These items were reviewed. (9) OTHER BUSINESS, COMMUNICATIONS OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA ITEMS, IF ANY Director Steve Anderson asked about removing the PDC Committee's GWRS project item from the Board agenda. It was decided that it could be pulled as no action was required by the Board at this time . Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 6 February 28, 2001 (10) MATTERS WHICH A DIRECTOR WOULD LIKE STAFF TO REPORT ON AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING There were none. (11) MATTERS WHICH A DIRECTOR MAY WISH TO PLACE ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR ACTION AND/OR STAFF REPORT There were none. (12) CONSIDERATION OF UPCOMING MEETINGS The next Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, 2001 at 4 p.m. The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, 2001 at 6:30 p.m. This will be a joint meeting with the Orange County Water District Board to consider proceeding with the Groundwater Replenishment System project. (13) CLOSED SESSION There was no closed session . (14) ADJOURNMENT The Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 6:48 p.m. ' G:\wp.dta\agenda\Steering Committee\01\Feb\022801 SC Minutes.doc